2 jeepney robbers killed in shoot-out

Two jeepney robbers armed with a homemade shotgun, a toy pistol and a knife were killed in a shoot-out with the police on Wednesday night.

One of the police, Senior Police Officer 2 Jeffrey Flores, was wounded in the arm during the fire-fight along with a jeepney passenger who was stabbed in the chest, according to Quezon City Police District director Chief Superintendent Mario de la Vega.

The slain thieves were identified as Sandy Kadtong, 29, and Isagani Bayani, 30, while a third man managed to escape.

Superintendent Norberto Babagay, Galas police station commander, said the three robbers were in a Cubao-bound jeepney on E. Rodriguez Avenue, Quezon City, when they declared a holdup at 8:50 p.m. on Wednesday.

They divested passengers of their valuables and stabbed Christian Ore, a 24-year-old call center agent, when he resisted.

After they alighted from the jeep near the Quirino Institute compound, patrolling policemen spotted them and tried to accost them, leading to a shoot-out.

Babagay said Kadtong had a knife and a homemade gun known as a teka-teka.

“It is called teka-teka because it can fire just one shot so you have to reload it each time and you say ‘Teka! Teka! (Wait! Wait!)’,” he said with a laugh.

Bayani, on the other hand, was holding a plastic toy gun. “The jeepney passengers thought it was a real firearm, apparently he used it to threaten them,” Babagay added. Julie M. Aurelio